


Defenders of the Galaxy

by UnrememberedSkies



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Because it's the Hargreeves, Childhood Trauma, Family Bonding, Fluff, Gen, Good Mother Allison Hargreeves, Luther Five and Claire are all science nerds, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, With A Smidgeon of Angst, mentions of the other siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 15:36:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21200024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnrememberedSkies/pseuds/UnrememberedSkies
Summary: Luther spends time with his biggest fan, Five discovers his Achilles Heel, and Claire is truly her mother's daughter.





	Defenders of the Galaxy

**Author's Note:**

> Taking a break from the whump and angst to write 3000 words of Claire bonding with her favourite uncles. This fic was largely inspired by [this fanart](https://annoyedlord.tumblr.com/post/187722175945/ooh-if-youre-still-taking-requests-i-was-really) by annoyedlord on tumblr because it's freakin' adorable and gives me the warm fuzzies every time I look at it. I wanted to write a fic with the same levels of warm fuzzies, but because it's me and the Hargreeves there is some angst in there.
> 
> Set in some unspecified future time when Allison has shared custody of Claire and the apocolypse has been averted.

“I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

Luther trailed after Allison into the kitchen, as she filled up her water bottle from the filter. She turned and gave him a smile that was affectionate, if lightly teasing.

“I disagree,” she said, in a tone that brooked no argument. His pure terror must have shown on his face because she took pity on him, putting a hand on his arm. “You’re going to be fine, Luther.”

He looked at her helplessly. “There must be people better qualified to look after her.”

“Almost certainly. But they’re not her favourite uncles. Claire has told _all_ the kids in school that she has one uncle that lived on the moon, and one that can travel in time and space. Those kids were really impressed, which, let me tell you, the children of movie stars rarely are.”

Luther puffed up a little in pride at that. He’d never had anyone boast about him before. He saw Allison looking at him with a raised eyebrow and tried to pretend he hadn’t been preening, but her knowing smirk told him he hadn’t convinced her.

“Mom!” The whirlwind of energy that was Claire crashed into the kitchen. Five followed, appearing next to Luther in a flash of blue, that made Claire cry out in delight and clap her hands. “Mom!” she repeated. “We’ve been talking about wormholes!”

Allison shot Luther an amused look. “Have you? Did you show him that new book Daddy got you?”

Claire nodded excitedly, scrambling up onto one of the kitchen stools. “Yeah, and Uncle Five kept telling me all the bits the author missed out. He’s really smart!”

“He certainly thinks he is,” said Allison said, raising an eyebrow at Five, who flipped her the bird. Covertly, out of Claire’s sight, otherwise Luther would have had to smack him on the upside of the head.

“I just said that because a book was aimed at children didn’t mean that it should leave out the crucial theory behind it.”

Allison went over and pressed a kiss into Claire’s dark hair. “It’s a book to inspire interest, Five, not to be referenced in a thesis.”

Five pulled a face. “Then it’s useless.”

“Five says I have a lot of potential,” Claire announced proudly, puffing up like Luther had done a few minutes earlier, and Luther felt a warm feeling of pride in his chest.

“You do, sweetie. Now, are you going to be good for Uncle Luther and Uncle Five?”

Claire nodded. “Yes, Mom.”

“I’ll only be gone a few hours. Try not to terrorise them too much. I love you, baby.”

“Love you, Mommy.” Allison gathered up her things and swept out of the kitchen with a wave to Luther and Five. The three of them looked at each other.

“Uncle Luther, can I show you my bedroom?”

“Sure,” said Luther, with a smile, grateful to her for breaking the silence.

“Race you there!” she said, already sliding off the stool and dashing out of the kitchen. Luther shot Five a wide-eyed look and Five grinned, before disappearing with a flash of light. Luther imagined Allison’s face if he destroyed her house by trying to run in it. He edged out of the kitchen, hearing Claire’s footsteps on the stairs. 

Going to the bottom of the stairs, he shouted up, “that’s not fair! I don’t know where your bedroom is!” He heard Claire’s giggles somewhere above him as he started to climb the stairs.

Five appeared at the top of the stairs, grinning like a demon. “Come on, Luther,” he said, loudly, “you’re not even trying.”

“You’re enjoying this far too much,” Luther grumbled as he joined him on the landing.

“You only say that because you’re losing,” said Five, before disappearing again. Luther followed the sound of Claire’s – and Five’s – giggles until he found Claire’s room.

It was a beautifully extravagant room for a child, classic Allison. There was a double bed covered in cushions and teddies, a dressing table and mirror that was largely covered in colourful drawings, an enormous purple beanbag next to a huge wardrobe and a fancy candelabra light fitting that Five kept nearly banging his head on.

Because Five was stood on Claire’s bed, his hands in his pockets, bobbing up and down as Claire bounced on the mattress. Luther wondered how he could tell Five to get off the bed without making it look like he was telling Claire off.

“_Finally_, Luther,” he said, with a theatricality Luther had never seen him display before. 

Claire repeated ‘finally’ with a laugh. “I won!” she said. “I beat Five.”

“It was very close,” Five said, with a snooty sniff that Luther assumed was supposed to be an exaggeration but that really wasn’t all that different from his usual demeanour. 

“Well done, Claire! He always used to cheat when we would race.” Luther said, throwing a smirk at Five. Five rolled his eyes. 

“Five wouldn’t cheat!” Claire said, with disbelieving outrage of someone who didn’t really know Five all that well.

“No, I wouldn’t,” Five said, folding his arms and sticking his tongue out at Luther. Claire copied the movement, folding her arms and sticking her tongue out, while somehow managing to mirror Five’s perpetual disdainful look with incredible accuracy. Luther laughed at the picture they made.

“Hey, Claire, weren’t you going to show me your room?” he prompted.

“Yes!” she said, unfolding her arms and taking a wobbly step forward on the mattress. “That’s why I’m up here,” she explained, “so I can see it how you see it.” They _were_ near enough the same height with Claire stood on the bed. 

“That’s a good idea,” Luther said, somewhat impressed. “So, you going to give me the grand tour?”

Claire nodded, and leaned down to pluck a cuddly toy from the pile on her bed and gave it Luther like she was handing over a priceless vase. “This is my favourite toy, it’s a present from Klaus.” Luther looked at the stuffed toy. It was purple octopus with soft tentacles and big black eyes and a friendly face. He knew what was coming next. “Klaus says he’s called Ben, after Uncle Ben.”

“That’s nice,” said Five, for which Luther was grateful. His own heart seemed to be stuck in his throat.

“Klaus says he’s here to protect me from the monsters and the ghosts.”

Luther shared a look with Five. “You don’t need to worry about monsters and ghosts, Claire,” he said gently.

“I know,” she said, like she thought Luther was a bit silly. “I’ve got Ben, and you two.”

“She’s got a point,” Five said, shrugging.

Claire gently placed Ben the Octopus back amongst his cuddly friends and stood back up. She pointed at the wardrobe. “That’s where I keep all my clothes and costumes. Look.” She motioned for Luther to open the cupboard doors, with an air of boisterous confidence clearly inherited from her mother. And as with her mother, Luther didn’t hesitate to obey. He opened the doors.

Only about a third of the closet was taken up by normal clothes. The other two thirds were an assortment of fancy dress costumes. Luther spotted a lion costume, a lab coat with a stethoscope, a Supergirl costume.

“Which is your favourite?” Luther asked. 

“Guess!” Claire said, bouncing more excitedly on the bed. 

Luther hesitated, looked to Five for help, but his brother just grinned and shrugged. Luther turned back to the wardrobe and started pushing the hangers along the rail, pointing the odd one out but always met to scornful ‘no’s. Finally, he came across a white spacesuit, and on the floor beneath it, a helmet. He pulled it out from the cupboard.

“This one?” he asked.

Claire clapped her hands and nodded. “Yes.”

“You should have brought yours, Luther. You could have matched,” Five said, with a smirk.

Claire’s mouth dropped open. “That would be amazing!” she squealed, jumping up and down so hard that Five nearly lost his balance. He wobbled dangerously for a moment, his hands still in his pockets, before righting himself. Luther couldn’t help but feel it was karma.

“I’ll have to bring it next time,” Luther promised. “Then we can be Spaceboy and Spacegirl.”

“I wanna be Spacegirl now!” Claire shouted, jumping off the bed and rushing over to the costume. She pulled it on over her shorts and t-shirt, complete with the helmet. She grinned at him, striking a pose. “How do I look?”

“Like a proper astronaut,” Luther said. “Like you’re ready to go and explore space.”

“Did you know that there’s a hundred billion planets in the Milky Way?” Claire said, seriously.

Luther raised his eyebrows, shook his head. “Wow, I didn’t know that. That’s an awful lot.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Five sit down on the edge of the bed, his face uncharacteristically soft.

“When I’m grown up,” Claire said, twisting her hands together in her white gloves, “do you think we’ll be able to go to explore them? Together?”

“All a hundred billion of them? Might take us a while,” Luther said with a wry smile. He saw Claire’s anxious face and softened. “I think that sounds like a great idea,” he said. “I would be honoured to serve as your co-pilot.” 

Claire beamed. She looked up at Five. “What about you, Uncle Five?”

Five blinked and seemed to flounder for a moment, so Luther took pity on him. “He can be our math guy on the ground.” He pretended to talk into a radio. “Spaceboy and Spacegirl to Ground Control Five, do you copy?”

“Yeah,” Five said slowly. “I could be your man on the ground, keeping an eye on things, making sure you’re safe.”

“We’d be the best team ever!” Claire exclaimed. She hesitated. “Well, apart from the Umbrella Academy.”

“_No_,” Luther and Five said at once. Claire’s eyes widened a fraction at the vehemence in their tones. Luther caught the look and hunkered down in front of her, putting a hand on her tiny shoulder. “We’ll be better than the Umbrella Academy,” he said softly. “We can make a new team, get your Mom, and your auntie and uncles involved.”

“And Klaus,” Five added, “who’s not an auntie or an uncle.”

“Yeah,” said Luther, nodding enthusiastically. “We’ll make an even better team. With you.”

“We could be the Defenders of the Galaxy!” Claire said, climbing back onto the bed and bouncing wildly.

Luther laughed and stood up. Five clung on to the edge of the bed for dear life. “So we’re going to be a team of explorer superheroes?”

“Explorer superhero scientists,” Claire corrected him. She held out her arms. “Can I have a ride, Uncle Luther? I want to show you my rocket ship!”

“You have a rocket ship?” Luther said, even as he turned his back and crouched down at the side of the bed. Claire climbed on happily. 

“Of course,” she said, crawling up his back and settling herself on his shoulder, holding onto his head for balance. “What kind of astronaut doesn’t have a rocket?”

“Bit of a silly question, Luther,” Five said from the bed. Luther turned and Claire clung onto his head, giggling. 

“Do you not want a ride, Five?” he asked.

Five folded his arms, looking distinctly unimpressed. “I don’t think so.”

“Aww, come on, Uncle Five. It’s fun,” Claire said.

Luther watched as Five’s perpetual scowl softened, doubt creeping into his features. Then, suddenly, Luther had to rebalance as a sudden weight appeared on his other shoulder. Five had teleported onto his back, clinging to him like a bush baby. He leaned in close to Luther’s ear, so Claire didn’t catch what he said.

“If you tell the others about this, I will eviscerate you.”

Luther didn’t doubt it. “My lips are sealed. Just make sure you don’t bang your head.”

It was fortunate, really, that Allison’s landing and stairs were wide, and that her house was open plan. Otherwise Luther might have had difficulty carrying two skinny, but surprisingly heavy, squirming bodies down the stairs, following Claire’s directions to what she called the ‘craft nook’. Luther suspected Allison’s influence in the naming of that particular room, because it sounded a lot more sophisticated than it actually was.

It was a chaotic mess of open paint tins, screwed up newspapers, papier mâché sculptures, colourful paintings hung on a clothesline with pegs, pots of glitter and sequins and PVA glue. On the far wall, three portraits of Allison, Claire and Patrick created using a mishmash of materials sat with the same sense of dignity and gravitas as Reginald’s godawful portraits of the rapidly diminishing Umbrella Academy.

Taking pride of place in the far corner, was Claire’s rocket, made of cardboard boxes and tubes, half-painted, and a little wonky.

Luther was struck with a sudden sadness he couldn’t quite place until Five jumped in front of it, looking up at it with a vaguely impressed look on his face, and Claire wriggled down from his back to join him, pointing out the parts of the rocket that she had been responsible for.

This was what childhood was supposed to look like; messy, chaotic, and with love apparent in every corner. He tried to imagine the seven of them in a room like this, could imagine Five and Vanya huddled in the corner painting minute details on little clay figures, Klaus and Diego flicking paint at each other while Ben tried to design some kind of optical illusion painting, and Allison covered the place in sequins and glitter.

Allison had taken everything they had been missing in their childhoods and put it in this room. Luther hadn’t even realised it _had_ been missing until he’d seen it.

“Luther, you okay?” The sound of Five’s voice snapped him out of his reverie and he glanced across at his brother, whose frown was slightly more concerned than it usually was. Claire was busy dragging over a box of what looked like toilet roll holders and egg cartons.

Luther swallowed. “Yeah,” he said. “Just thinking.”

Five stared at him, and Luther could almost see his quick brain working behind his eyes. Then he nodded, face softening. “Bit different to the training rooms, isn’t it?”

“Just a little,” Luther said, responding with a weak smile. He turned to Claire and crouched down beside her. “So, what can I do to help?”

They spent the rest of the afternoon continuing to work on Claire’s rocket. Luther and Five bickered over the correct structure of such a ship (_”Out of the two of us, Five, which of us has actually gone to space?”_), Luther regretted not making Claire change out of her astronaut costume before they started painting, and they discovered that Claire had the much sought-after but never before seen ability to _tell Five what to do._

Once their stomach started to rumble, they made burritos and then settled down in front of the TV to watch Star Wars Episode IV, after much debate between Luther and Five as to whether Claire was old enough to watch it. As it happened, it didn’t really matter, because Claire fell asleep about twenty minutes in. Five, old man that he was, fell asleep shortly after.

Luther sat and watched over them for a while like a protective mama bear, until he heard the sound of Allison’s car in the drive. Making sure Claire and Five were happily curled up together, he eased himself up from the couch to go and turn the lights on in the hall so Allison didn’t have to come in to a dark house.

“Hey,” she said as she let herself in, peering past Luther. “Everything okay?”

“Shh, honey, the kids are asleep,” Luther said, with a grin.

Allison laughed, before smothering her giggles in her hand. “He’d kill you if he knew you were calling him a kid.”

Luther laughed as well. “Don’t let him fool you. He’s just a big softie, really.” He glanced around nervously. “Don’t tell him I told you that.”

Allison shook her head, eyes still bright with laughter, then crept down the hall to look into the living room. Luther peered over her shoulder, and had to admit they made a cute picture. He looked at Allison’s face and saw that soft expression, and recognised a little of the sadness he had felt before.

Then, the look vanished and Allison put a finger to her lips, pulling on his sleeve. They went into the kitchen and Allison poured them some scotch.

“She’s got him wrapped around her little finger,” Luther said, perching on one of the barstools.

Allison laughed. “That’s my girl.” She took a sip of whisky and looked at him speculatively, leaning against the counter. “What about you?”

“Well,” Luther said, “I try not to give in as easily, be a bit more of an authority figure, you know.”

Allison arched an eyebrow. “Is that why her astronaut costume’s covered in paint?” 

Luther wasn’t sure if it was her sharp eyes or a hereto unknown superpower that had enabled Allison to spot the paint-covered costume in the washing machine so quickly. “Um, about that…” But Allison was laughing, a soft look on her face.

“She’s incredible, Allison.”

Allison stopped laughing and pressed her lips together, like she was holding back tears. “I know,” she said.

Luther looked through the open door, towards the lounge. “She is so smart, and so creative. And she’s happy.” He looked back at Allison. “You did that. She’s the luckiest kid in the world to have you for a mother.”

A tear slipped out from the corner of Allison’s eye and she brushed it away with a self-deprecating smile. “I want that to be true.”

“It is,” Luther assured her. “You have given her everything we never had.”

“Mommy?” came a sleepy voice from the doorway. Claire came into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes.

“Hey, baby,” Allison said, putting down the glass and holding out her arms. Claire went to her and Allison scooped her up in her arms, Claire’s head resting against her shoulder. “Did you have a good time with Uncle Luther and Uncle Five?”

Claire nodded sleepily. “Uncle Five’s still asleep.”

“We’ll be careful not to wake him, then. Are you ready to go to bed?”

Luther watched as Claire opened her eyes and looked straight at him. “Will you still be here tomorrow?”

Luther caught Allison’s eye and she gave him a look that said, ‘it’s up to you.’

“Yeah, of course,” Luther said. “I can sleep on the couch. If Five isn’t hogging it.”

Claire giggled softly and Allison smiled at him before she carried Claire out of the kitchen and upstairs to her bedroom. Luther sat for a moment, finishing off the rest of his scotch, before getting up and heading back to the living room.

Five was curled up against the arm of the settee. Luther sat down next to him, leaning back and staring up at the ceiling.

“She’s a good kid,” Five said, voice muffled with sleep.

“She is.”

“We need to keep her safe.”

Luther turned to look at his brother, who was still speaking into his arm, his eyes closed. “We will. Don’t worry.”

Five made a contented noise, before drifting back into sleep, snoring softly.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments make me as happy as Claire in her astronaut costume!


End file.
